Justice Ginsburg undergoes surgery for pancreatic cancer

The Court released a statement this afternoon that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had surgery for early-stage pancreatic cancer and will likely remain at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City for 7-10 days. The text of the Court’s statement can be read after the jump.

U. S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had surgery for an apparently early-stage pancreatic cancer today, at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.  According to Dr. Murray Brennan, the attending surgeon, Justice Ginsburg will likely remain in the hospital approximately 7-10 days.

Justice Ginsburg had no symptoms prior to the incidental discovery of the lesion during a routine annual check-up in late January at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.  A Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT) Scan revealed a small tumor, approximately 1 cm across, in the center of the pancreas.

Justice Ginsburg is 75 years old.  She was appointed to the Court in 1993 by President Clinton.